It's that time of year again and Santa is coming to town!

                   Santa is getting ready for the Holidays!!!
Yes, it's that time of year for me already when orders begin for the Holiday Season and Christmas is just around the corner! With that brisk chill in the air and Jack Frost just waiting to leap, these Autumn days grow short of light, giving me just the right mood in which to create a Victorian Christmas inside the bubble of my imagination. This idea of warming wassail or spiced apple cider, an old-fashioned pumpkin pie or gingerbread man, is all I need to summon a Dickens Christmas of cobbled lanes and merry Carolers singing: God Rest You Merry Gentleman. But, there I go again, and I'm suddenly hearing the jangle of bells from a far-off sleigh and a mighty Ho Ho Ho echo down my chimney. Oh, but not too fast! Santa has to get ready for Christmas! He's not even painted yet!  

          
                          (Arms articulated) 
 Unfinished/Unpainted Santa in Progress! © 2012 Weird Contessa Studio Creations™

~The Mermaid Box~

I love the primitive Maritime folk art of early Americana. 

Historically, sailors had little to do at sea once keeping to their duties aboard ship; However, in treasured spare time, they might take up carving. 
Wood was the easiest of natural mediums to find for such carpentry and often these carvings would be a source of added income to trade in little sea ports. 
Such sea-going Artisans were to be found living and leaving from coastal villages and ports along the New England coast and across the Mid-Eastern Seaboard to down in the Deep South and river towns where cargo ships would bring in such sailors and skills from around the world. 
In the Victorian era, when Gold Rush fever took hold,  the Mariner was often tempted to throw in with the Pioneer settlements burgeoning across the wild and lawless  Western-Pacific landscape. 
Soon, such hand-worked carvings were found among trinkets and goods of trade that could  be found easily enough in places like San Francisco and all along the coastal regions
 of Old California, out across foggy seaports in Oregon 

and over the mist shrouded shores of Washington. 

 This Mermaid Box is a little nod to the artisan Mariner of old. As I think of more homespun folk mermaid designs to come, I can't help but think of a bearded old Sea Cap'n, with faithful dog at heel. There he sits dressed eternally in pea coat and cap, whittling away a beauty made of wood nearly visible amongst the shadows outside a seaside clapboard house. Yes, his smoking pipe is barely discernible against his shadowy form that fades in and out of the winking sunlight settling over the glistening beach 

and churning white capped waves at Sea.

               
                  Mermaid Box with raised relief of Sea Maiden of original design.
                                                   Mermaid and Fish may be customised with various colours.  

                                       

                                   More Maritime inspired folk art boxes and the
 Blue Mermaid Collection™ coming soon! 

                                                                             © Weird Contessa Studio Creations™

Shor' it be ... a wee bit o' luck for Saint Patty's !

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Tis ol' ~Casey Séamus O'Toole O'Malley~   himself! This wee jolly little leprechaun has made visible his spritely self for your mortal eyes just in time to join in the merriment
and mischief for Saint Patty's Day!

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To bring alive the luck o' the irish, First I set about sculpting my wee leprechaun friend, and after a bit of detail tooling and then further baking, he was ready for the final stage of acrylic paints! 

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To add much more to his lucky charm, I added a shimmering gold fleck clear-coat to his green suit! He might just yet get a shamrock pipe, too! 

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Happy St PatTEA's Day!
Are you wondering what to serve for St Patrick's Day?

Well, first of all, you must know that the Irish take their ”cuppa tae” seriously !
TEA is the Irish National Beverage !
In fact, the average Irish tea drinker consumes at least 4-6 cups per day! (Not bad, but I think I drink more on my average day of sculpting! And you might say, it inspires me!)
Now, how to make a good Irish cuppa ?

First of all, m'darlin', you must have a good Irish teapot to keep the tea warm as it steeps. Warm the teapot before adding the boiling water! For loose tea, use one spoonful for each cup, (a generous spoon, mind!), and one extra spoon for the teapot! If using a teabag, it is one per cup and one for the pot! Remember, Irish like their tea strong - and it should steep for at least 5 minutes but no longer as to not burn the tea!
Please remember, to have a true Irish 'cuppa tae', always put cream and sugar in the cup first, rather than later.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day ! 
And remember what m' favourite leprechaun, Casey Séamus O'Toole O'Malley once told me ~
 ♧ "May the Good Lord kiss your head with wisdom, your lips with a smile, your heart with love, and your feet with the right road ...especially if trouble be after ye !"
Éirinn go Brách !

Sláinte !
xo
~Gina~

                              
                                                                                 Casey Séamus O'Toole O'Malley

© Copyright 2010 Weird Contessa Studio Creations™  

(All Rights Reserved)

~SANTA'S VISIT ~

 Santa's Visit  was inspired by my cherished ideal of a Victorian Christmas that harkens back to this Christmas innocence of childhood dreams. For this I had an old-fashioned yuletide Father Christmas in mind, a true classic Jolly Old Elf who is the Santa Claus of sentimental Christmas Eve anticipation. With his arms full of toys and a symbolic evergreen of the season tucked in his embrace, Old Saint Nick has come on his promised visit to deliver his joyful delights to each hopeful child. 

As I was sculpting for a Christmas Curio Display and also for an Ornament, I had two mediums. The weight of a firm polymer clay is ideal for a heavy and higher-end work with detail that requires more depth and this clay works wonderfully for the curio piece. Here "Santa's Visit" is already baked for permanence and getting cleaned for the next stage of being painted

 (*see below). 

For the Christmas Tree Ornaments, I used PaperClay™, which is a light medium and is actually similar to Papier mâché, but in pulp form and is not a non-layering technique; it is made from a clay-like pulp and requires complete drying time before being painted.  The process of sculpting in this medium also is different and is more additive rather than subtractive. It can be sanded, rather than carved. Like watercolour painting is different from oil painting, this paper medium is light and more expressive of its own medium than is a true clay - which holds more to a highly realistic detail sculpting. 

*Note the differences and the beauty of these variations and techniques.

 Both of these unpainted pieces are fully dried Paperclay™ sculpts and are ready for paint - as seen completed below. As no two pieces made by hand are exact, each piece is one of a kind and has its own personality. Look closely and one may see that even the face of each Santa different in expression, as are the toys! 

 These are Christmas tree ornaments, yet may be used as a wall hanging for Christmas decor, as they are light and retain the look of an old-fashioned heirloom. Upon request, an Antique finish may be added to complete the feel of Christmas Past.  

                                                                 SANTA'S VISIT © Copyright 2010 Weird Contessa Studio Creations™         

                                                                                                                                                                                     (All Rights Reserved)

Knowing what to be Thankful for...

I must admit that Thanksgiving is not my favourite holiday to celebrate. 
It is not for lack of festivities of food, family and friends - but the holiday in general just disappoints me. 
Being of both European and Native American heritage, I find it distinctly unbalanced that this particular American holiday has been celebrated in ignorance of fact and historical correctness.

("Homeland" is a colour sketch for a larger painting. This sketch is pen & Ink and watercolour wash on paper.)  

Even the traditional children cut-outs of turkey hands with fingers as feathers, or pilgrim hats in black and Indian headbands of multi-coloured designs are simply being a thing of the past. Why are little things like this forgotten in today's dreary little "politically-correct" school rooms.  

(A collectible locket that I had sculpted the prototype for in 1995 for Disney's Pocahontas. [©Disney/Applause Inc.]
The film was spectacularly beautiful and the soundtrack was stunning and aptly written from the native american point of view -
alas, the storyline was
 non-historical pandering to ignorance and shame-faced mythology.) 

A general fear of prejudicial feelings has now erupted in a complete disregard for honouring history. Do we as a nation still not understand what these two cultures were then and how and why they interacted with each other the way they did. Isn't that the true founding of America? 

Sadly, there is a distinct loss of Native American Indian culture, heritage and history in the United States. 

It is especially disparaging to have been raised on those old school text books so utterly out of focus on Indian heritage and accomplishment, and over-balanced with the European expansion, conquering settlements and colonisation of white America. As it stands today in American public schools, there we have another dissing of culture altogether in order to avoid being non-politically correct. Politically correct? What a load of rubbish.  

(The title of this is "Injun Red" and was drawn in conte pencil on canson paper with digitial colour. I chose red as I wanted to convey the emotional response of a dying culture and embattled confusion. Red being blood). 

Is it to deny one culture is to deny another? Because to teach American history once was a sort of propaganda for the European conquerers with a distinctly one-sided tell all of history. But since the rallies of the late 1960s and multi-cultural awareness of the 1970s, there have been voices of disquiet. Culture shouldn't be a bad word, but this has even been caught up in politicos and gleeful law suits of racism running rampant. Culture and history go hand in hand, and in understanding both, shouldn't we celebrate what we can learn from history, rather than rewrite it or remain in ignorance of it?  

(This is a drawing I did many years ago -  It was based on a historical photograph of an indian chief. What I wanted to capture was a man losing his way of life.
His face strikes me as proud, defiant and fearful.) 

So, it is at this time of year, and certainly with a grateful spirit in giving thanks to Creator God, that I especially remember the Ancestors for all they gave and achieved and reckoned with to forge a new country or to hold tightly to the birthright of an old one.   

I hope to share that gratitude here as I post some of my artwork in remembrance of the first American - the American Indian. 

Happy Thanksgiving ! 

As Mad as a Hatter !

I've been mad for some time . . . over Alice in Wonderland. (*Ahem)...

 Even remembering as a child, the Disney film had made me curiouser and curiouser about this strange world by Lewis Carroll and all the weird characters who populated it. 

Even Alice, herself, seemed to be peculiar. 

Certainly, there is a certain degree of discomfort with madness, but certainly one must expect that in a world that is certainly mad.

Of that, I am quite certain.  

Thus, my own rendition of my gothic inspired Alice has had to take form. 

As Lewis Carroll once said,

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." 

My ~Weird Alice™~ collection is underway, so I have decided to let you in how I am sculpting The Mad Hatter, as he is impatiently the first in this series to debut. 

The above picture is an unfinished sculpt with much more detail and nearing completion. He is now awaiting his tea cup to be put in one hand, and perhaps he shall be one of the few Mad Hatter figures to receive a tea pot in the other, as well? 

           A grouping of Charles Dickens' inspired figures are being sculpted into the Mad Hatter.

So how do my figures begin?  Much like my method in painting, I must sketch it out - but this time in clay.  This is a basic rough outline, without any detail, to determine the pose or character idea.

This enables me to visualise what direction I want to take this character and let his own personality take form out of the clay. 

I did not want to "copy" from any film characterisation, nor did I wish to render my sculpts based on the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. I was more inclined to be inspired by the ever-present Dickensian Victorian ideal and of childhood's fantasy and fairy tale.

 I like the freedom to use my own imagination like this when sculpting on my own pieces.

Although the figures seen here are generally of the same likeness, The Mad hatter figure is like other characters in my collections ~ meaning that each piece is one of a kind and can vary in expression, pose, costume design and no two are exactly alike. 

When my Mad Hatter is completed, or more of his brothers, I shall post the finished pictures soon! 

Then on to Alice!

And now, who's for Tea? 

Mad hatters in progress

                     Weird Alice Collection © Copyright 2011 ~ Weird Contessa Studio Creations™

(All Rights Reserved)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll and you should do well to behoove yourself of this fine literary classic.

 Preferably, with a cuppa tea, sitting in a garden, under a large shade tree,

 and enjoying a conversation with a white rabbit.

I highly recommend it.